OKLAHOMA CITY – OCU will welcome Harold Cromer, legendary tap dancer and stage performer, for an evening of dance and discussion Oct. 26. Cromer will perform a tap dance accompanied by OCU musicians and join a panel of professionals who will discuss issues of race in the entertainment industry. Dancers from the Ann Lacy School of American Dance and Arts Management will open for Cromer.
The event will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Burg Theater in Kirkpatrick Fine Arts Center. Doors will open at 7 p.m. and the performance is free to the public.
Cromer was born in New York City and began his career as a tap dancer on roller skates at the Hudson Guild in Hell’s Kitchen. He made his Broadway debut in 1939 with Ethel Merman and Betty Grable in Du Barry Was a Lady and later performed around the world as a member of the popular song and dance comedy team Stump and Stumpy with James Cross. The duo appeared in leading theaters and night clubs, billed with such performers as Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, and Count Basie. Cross and Cromer also appeared on The Milton Berle Show (television) and This is the Army (film), among many other television, stage, radio, and film engagements.
Cromer’s relationship with James Cross ties his visit in with the university’s first-year reading program book selection, Secret Daughter, by June Cross. Cross’s father, James Cross, was Cromer’s partner in the Stump and Stumpy duo.
Cromer returned to Broadway in 1978 as a featured performer in American Dance Machine. He was presented the Living Treasure in Dance Award by OCU in 1996 and the Peg Leg Bates Award at the St. Louis Tap Festival in 2003.
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